Month: September 2019

9/21/19- Free Museum Day!

Abby H.

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Museum Day is a one-day event in which participating museums and cultural institutions across the country provide free entry to anyone presenting a Museum Day ticket. Participants are allowed to download one ticket per email address. The ticket provides free general admission on Saturday, September 21, 2019, for two people.

For those of us in San Diego County, there are 37 choices, ranging from The New Children’s Museum downtown to the Museum of Making Music in Carlsbad.  You can find a list of museums near you here.

Now, if you can’t make it out to free museum day, there are museums all over San Diego County that are FREE EVERY DAY!

Flying Leatherneck Aviation Museum 4203 Anderson Ave, San Diego, CA 92145

Barona Cultural Center & Museum 1095 Barona Road, Lakeside, CA 92040

Bonita Museum and Cultural Center 4355 Bonita Road, Bonita, CA 91902

Miniature Engineering Craftsmanship Museum 3190 Lionshead Ave, Carlsbad, CA 92009

The Water Conservation Garden isn’t a museum, but it is free daily and super fun to explore. They also hold cool free events for kids and adults.

The Timken in Balboa Park is free every day. And there are select museums free every Tuesday in Balboa Park.  While you are in Balboa Park, stop by The City’s Botanical Building. It is open every day except Thursday. Admission is always free.

Make it a frugal afternoon by packing your lunch and snacks (don’t forget water- it’s going to be a hot one here in San Diego and most of the southwest next weekend)! I raid our snack cupboard and pack lots of different choices, that way everyone is satisfied.

Talk Back: Which museum in your area are you excited about checking out on 9/21/19?

 

9/16/19 Weekly Meal Plan!

Abby H.

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I just finished shopping for the week, and Boy do I have some awesome meals planned!

This week I’ll be making another big batch of fruit salad! It was a very popular addition to our meals last week. 

For those of you that are new to meal planning, I’ve got an easy 101 style post here with super easy tips and steps. After you get that down, here is info about batch or freezer cooking.

I’ve gotten a pretty good inventory of the pantry, freezer, and fridge done, so I’m able to plan meals and use up what we’ve got with little waste. If you are looking for kitchen inventory printable, I like the kitchen inventories here. They are great printables.

You may notice a lot of plant-based meals- We are not vegetarian, but I am trying to get more veggies into our diet. I do a lot of cooking from scratch- I find it easier to get veggies and fruit into recipes that I can have 100% control over.

I only post our dinner plans for the week, because our other meals are usually the same each day:

Breakfast: Coffee with heavy cream for me, and pancakes or something along those lines for the kids (they love the Kodiak Cakes Mix).  I also keep sandwich Ziploc bags of other frozen fruit on hand to make the kids smoothies when they request them (a few times per week). Berries, peaches, and mangos are pretty popular.

Lunches are leftovers, salads, or soups for me and Bitty. The big kid takes his lunch to school, but once in a while, I can convince him to buy his lunch.

For dinner, when we’ve got busy days (like Mondays), I’ll try and put something in the crockpot (I am picking up my new crockpot this week) in the morning, or pull something I’ve already prepped out that can be quickly cooked.

  • Monday: homemade breakfast sandwiches ( Bagels with sunny side up eggs, cheese, and sausage patties), fruit salad
  • Tuesday:  Cheese and tomato tortellini with pesto sauce, steamed broccoli,  cheese toast
  • Wednesday: Sea Salt & Olive Oil Seasoned Chicken Breasts, cheesy herb cauli-rice
  • Thursday: Homemade Pasta sauce, zucchini “noodles”
  • Friday:  Grilled Cheese sandwiches and soup
  • Saturday: Pizza Night
  • Sunday: Leftover night

 

Talk Back: What are you planning to cook this week?

Did you hear the news…? Mom Conference is BACK!

Abby H.

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Next week one of the most important events for moms launches… one that you DEFINITELY don’t want to miss!

The best part of all is that you can register here for FREE:

Claim Your Free Seat Here 

203581.984e84acfa5f9e11c570a31cb3638f4c.jpgMoms struggle with so many challenges from raising non-entitled kids to battling overwhelm and balancing family at the same time… this event was designed to be a beacon of light for moms at all stages of motherhood.

Be sure to register now and set your reminder so that you don’t miss any of these amazing resources.

Here’s where you check out the line-up and topics discussed by these 32 amazing speakers.

View The Agenda Here

If you know you’re going to miss something over the 3 FREE days or you just can’t wait any longer and want access right now, today…You can still get the Early bird price for the VIP Access Pass right now, even if it’s 2 a.m.

You’ll see the offer for the VIP Pass just after you register for the event.

9/16/19- Free Guacamole Day!

Abby H.

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To take advantage of this deal, show or print the coupon here. This would make a great snack with a beer or fresh lemonade.

Easy Jam Recipe: No Canning Needed!

Abby H.

Screen Shot 2019-09-12 at 10.53.44 PM.pngOn Wednesday, I found myself with a bunch of very ripe berries.

2 cups of strawberries

2 cups of blackberries

1 cup of raspberries

1/2 cup of blueberries

Ok, so that’s a weird amount of berries, and seeing as how there were dead ripe, the only thing I could do besides freeze them is to cook them up and make jam!

Making “freezer jam” as it’s usually known is pretty easy. No pectin needed, no jars, no canning. It’s dead simple.

Ready?

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Ingredients

Equal parts chopped ripe fruit and white sugar (or you can use Splenda for baking)

Directions

  1. In a large pot (like this one) coot fruit over medium/low heat, stirring frequently, until the fruit breaks down, about 20-ish minutes
  2. Add sugar/sweetener, and stir until it has melted and the mixture is glossy and thick.
  3. Pour into a refrigerator safe container with a lid. Once the mixture is room temp, store in the fridge for up to 3 weeks, or in the freezer for up to 4 months.
  4. Spread the jam on anything!
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After it cooked down, it made about 2 1/2 cups of jam

And for those who are wondering, this is easy enough that kids can help make this, but I don’t recommend that kids do it alone. Molten fruit and sugar can cause a very painful burn on the skin.

Save on Prescriptions with GoodRX!

Abby H.

The big kid and I both have prescriptions. Thankfully, his are covered with zero co-pay, but mine are not.

Recently, while watching Hulu, I learned about GoodRX, which is a FREE discount pharmacy club.  Being curious to see if we could save money on my monthly meds, I took signed up for the free card here and entered my medication to check the prices.

And here is what I found:

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Or, if I want to do mail order, I can save EVEN MORE!!

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And these are  30-day refills, if I opted for 90-day refills, the price would be higher of course.

I’ll be checking out MailMyPrescriptions when I get closer to refill time. At $2.40/month, I’ll be saving about $100/year on my monthly prescription!

Any way we can cut down on our reoccurring monthly expenses helps free up money that can go into savings or toward paying down our debt!

 

Top 10 Herbs and Spices needed for a Well-Stocked Kitchen!

Abby H.12 Comments

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I get a lot of people who ask about my spice rack- what do I keep in my kitchen, since we cook at home so much. I made a list of what I use, then I polled my Facebook friends. Below is a reflection of what we use most at home, plus what most of my foodie friends use too all combined into a handy dandy top ten list!

I prefer spices and herbs from Penzey’s– They have the best quality and a wide variety. They tend to be a little more expensive, but they are very high-quality herbs and spices, and you will use much less than their cheaper counterparts. If you have a Penzey’s store near you, it’s worth checking out. Join their mailing list- they frequently have coupons for freebies and really good deals (and free shipping sometimes too if you don’t live close to a store). Penzey’s also sells their spices on Amazon!

  1. Mural of Flavor
  2. Cinnamon
  3. Cumin
  4. Chili Powder
  5. Italian Seasoning
  6. Oregano
  7. Ginger
  8. Bay Leaves
  9. Paprika
  10. Turkish Seasoning

These are of course in addition to Table Salt, Kosher Salt, a pepper mill for freshly cracked pepper, roasted garlic, granulated garlic, toasted onions, onion powder, and air-dried shallots. For me, these are pantry staples and every kitchen should have them, as they are used in so many recipes, in addition to the 10 above.

 

Talk Back: What are some of your favorite seasonings?

PinchMe: Sample Tuesday is Coming 9/17/19!

Abby H.

Every time I post about PinchMe, someone says that they miss the window of freebies, so I’ve decided to start posting heads up when I get the emails!

Sample Tuesday is coming up on Tuesday, September 17th, and they’ve got a bunch of amazing new samples you won’t want to miss!

Click here to RSVP to the Official Facebook event to get a reminder on Sample Tuesday and a chance to win 1 of 5 amazing deluxe PINCHme boxes.

P.S. Here’s a sneak peek at some of the samples for you to claim:

  • Heinz Mayochup Saucy Sauce
  • Blistex Moisture Revitalizer
  • Compeed® Blister Cushions
  • Chlorphen-12 Allergy Tablets
  • Heinz Tomato Ketchup with a Blend of Veggies
  • Pioneer Woman Frozen Products 100% Free Gratuity Coupon
  • Schick® Xtreme® Shave Foam–Sensitive and Moisturizing 100% Free Gratuity Coupon

Remember to fill out your advanced profile in order to boost your chances of receiving samples! Don’t forget, the new samples go live on Tuesday 12pm ET!

9/13/19: Weekly Freebies and Deals!

Abby H.

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Woo Hoo! Friday means Freebies and deals!

Samples/Goodies:

In Stores/Events:

Magazines:

Deals:

Urbane Cafe: Free lunch for Teachers and Staff (El Cajon and Encinitas Locations)!

Abby H.

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Various Urbane Cafe locations are offering free lunches (sandwich or salad) to teachers and school staff.

Not so small print…
  • Only one meal per ticket
  • Must have Valid Teacher ID
  • No app, phone or online orders
  • Must be present to receive the offer

The El Cajon Location is offering them on 9/17/19 and 9/18/19 at 11am. RSVP here. 

The Encinitas location is offering them on 9/24/19  and 9/26/19 11am-9pm.  RSVP here.

 

 

Please share this post with your friends and family who might benefit! Teachers and school staff work so hard- they deserve a free lunch!